This invention relates to containers and/or closures therefor useful under adverse environments.
One class of containers includes a cap and a vessel body having walls and a bottom that are liquid or gas tight. The cap has either integrally formed or separate sealing means to form a liquid-tight or gas-tight enclosure with the vessel, the vessel and cap being formed of a material or materials capable of withstanding adverse environments, such as for example, acidic or basic environments with or without small particles. These containers are adapted to close tightly such as through the use of screw threads or toggles or the like capable of exerting a mechanical advantage to form tight cooperating sealing surfaces which withstand the passage of gases or liquids between the container body and the cap for the container.
In one type of prior art container of this class, the cooperating sealing surfaces are parallel or substantially parallel with relatively wide matching surfaces when engaged.
Such types of prior art containers have several disadvantages, such as for example: (1) the caps are not easily removable and replaceable but instead require time-consuming care such as cleaning or the like to provide a proper seal the second time they are used; (2) they are subject to fouling by solid debris such as particles within the material being contained; (3) some of them are not stable to corrosive materials and solvents; and (4) they do not consistently and quickly form a gas-tight seal so as to maintain a vacuum or hold gas under positive pressure or preserve an inert atmosphere within them.